Global Geopolitics: A Critical Introduction
- PDF / 82,196 Bytes
- 3 Pages / 442 x 663 pts Page_size
- 85 Downloads / 221 Views
ournals.com/jird
Journal of International Relations and Development Volume 10, Number 1, 2007
80
as global apartheid and North–South relations, Popular Geopolitics (the representation of the world through media such as films, cartoons and music), the globalization of danger (mostly focused on weapons of mass destruction), the globalization of environmental issues (from Stockholm to Rio and beyond) and the globalization of humanitarianism (with an added case study about the United Nations and Yugoslavia during 1992–1995). In this new book, Global Geopolitics. A Critical Introduction, Dodds has added two chapters in comparison to the 1999 effort. One is about the so-called anti-geopolitics and the globalization of dissent, in which the author, for example, recalls Edward Said’s fascinating contribution on the imaginative power of Orientalism, and also discusses such relevant topics as decolonization and the Cold War and an insight into today’s anti-globalization protests. The second and last chapter that is added in comparison to his earlier book tackles the globalization of terror. In the post11 September 2001 period, such a topic is — evidently — difficult to avoid. The Critical Geopolitics approach states that world leaders find themselves in a constant battle to represent the world, via their discourse, in a particular way so as to convince their constituents and the wider world of the legitimacy of their course of action. The author, for example, examines the so-called Axis of Evil rhetoric of George W. Bush’s administration. Quite accurately, the author points out that the labelling of certain global political spaces as an ‘Axis of Evil’ (Iran, North Korea) has both internal consequences within the US (e.g. the position of Arab- and African-Americans) and external implications (a simplification of the world in which complexities within territories such as Saudi Arabia or Palestine are avoided). Personally, I would have devoted more attention to the dynamics with which the rhetoric of leaders tries to mould the reality (social constructivism) and tries to convince the constituents and world public opinion of its ‘veracity’. This chapter is somewhat descriptive in nature, which is nevertheless understandable in the sense that this book was conceptualized as being introductory. The attraction of this book nevertheless lies in the fact that it appeals to a broader public. It is also ideal to use in an undergraduate environment where students investigate the dynamics of current world topics. The introduction to Geopolitics at the beginning of the book offers the reader a certain framework from which they can orient themselves. A stylistic but efficient improvement compared to his earlier book is that Dodds now identifies at the beginning of each chapter the key issues that will be tackled, at the end he formulates a number of key questions upon which the reader can further reflect. This is an eloquent way of making both the text and the topics at hand even more accessible. Whereas in the 1999 effort the author’s f
Data Loading...
